


Sunday Morning Shine

by drinktea



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, flowershop au, giant dorks, unabashed use of love poems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-25
Updated: 2015-11-25
Packaged: 2018-05-03 04:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5276690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drinktea/pseuds/drinktea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every week this gorgeous guy comes in smelling like chlorine, smiling bright as the sun, and buys a fistful of flowers. And before you say anything, Sousuke does not have a crush on him. He doesn't do crushes.</p><p>(An AU set in a simple flower shop, where Sousuke and Makoto meet under bittersweet circumstances--though the ratio between bitter and sweet is yet to be seen.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunday Morning Shine

He does not have a crush.

He doesn't. He doesn't do crushes. Crushes are juvenile. They're fleeting and shallow and meant to stay in his elementary and high school days. It's been a long time since he's outgrown crushes. Really.

And while his brain might know that, his heart doesn't seem to have got the memo because it starts beating out of time when a particular customer walks in the door of the shop, bringing with him the smell of chlorine.

Sousuke's eyes trail the new arrival. He's in a seasonal flannel that looks well-loved, paired with grey jeans, converse and a leather bracelet, wrapped around his wrist a few times. Every week he looks different, and every week he looks good. Sousuke's no slouch when it comes to pulling outfits together, but this guy has to have a sixth sense. Even the glasses perched on the guy's nose add something.

He clears his throat when he realizes he's been staring, jumping quickly back to work. His eyes run down the list of shipments they got today and he knows this is going to be a long, sweaty afternoon. But the Matsuoka family hired him basically for his ability to lift things above 25 kilograms, and that's what he's got to do. It's out to the back to move sacks of soil in.

As he makes his way across the floor, he forgets to plot a path and nearly bowls over his cr-- his not-crush. It's pretty bad that he managed to do that-- the guy is at least 6 feet tall. "Sorry," he apologizes badly.

The guy looks up from where he's examining a single daffodil. "Oh, don't worry about it," he says, offering a small smile. It seems that he hadn't even noticed-- probably caught up thinking about the syrupy sweet girlfriend he's giving all these flowers to every week. Seeing that little upward curve in those soft-looking lips, Sousuke can't help but hate whoever is on the receiving end of these blooms.

Suddenly he swallows nothing, working away the sudden dryness of his throat, and just moves to the back of the shop.

He does not have a crush.

\--------☼--------

"Sousuke, oh my God, you have to come with me right now."

Sousuke puts a potted plant down and twitches a workglove into place. "What is it, Gou?"

But of course, Gou is Gou, and he ends up getting practically shoved over to the floor of the store where guess-who is examining a pair of white lilies.

"I think he has the most gorgeous back muscles I've ever seen," Gou whisper-hisses.

"You can't see his back," Sousuke points out. Not-crush is clad in a faded grey tee.

"No, but I can't just tell," she asserts. "What's got your goat all of a sudden? You're so quiet--" And then Gou is staring a bit too hard at Sousuke, and Sousuke can almost feel his skin crawl--

"Gou, what--"

"You like him!" she accuses.

He feels affronted and chooses not to say anything. It's not even worth it to explain to Gou that he does not like the guy. He doesn't do crushes.

"You know, I suddenly feel like doing some lifting. Sousuke, you man the front," Gou says loudly and with a bit of sneer. This girl has been a pain in Sousuke's butt since the day he started here and absolutely nothing has changed. But beyond all reason, he likes her pushiness. And who would he be to fight the boss' daughter? He shoots a glare at her and steps onto the wooden floor.

It is at that moment that he realizes he's staring at not-crush because he looks up and shoots Sousuke a smile. His heart does somersaults. His brain kicks his heart in its figurative behind.

The guy stands to his full height and raises a hand. "Hi."

Sousuke walks over with his mind focused on being a good customer service agent and nothing else. (That is, if nothing else means thinking about finding out whether or not the guy really does have a nice back or not.)

"Hi. How can I help you?" he asks.

The guy's eyes light up a bit in surprise, and without the glasses today, Sousuke can see every shift of green in his irises. The guy smiles again though, not missing a beat. "I actually wanted to introduce myself. I just... I see you every week, and it's getting a bit weird, isn't it?" he laughs nervously. The charm he radiates is ridiculous, and Sousuke can feel himself being pulled into its undertow. "I'm Tachibana Makoto," the guy says as he holds out a hand.

Sousuke takes his workglove off and his warm palm lands in Tachibana's. "Yamazaki Sousuke."

The guy-- Tachibana-- makes a little humming noise in his throat, seeming to commit Sousuke's name to memory. "Yamazaki, nice to meet you." His smile could shame the sun.

Sousuke has a crush.

\--------☼--------

Pen in hand, chin in his palm, Sousuke gazes out at the store from his vantage point at the register. Potted plants hang around in planters and fresh cut flowers of all varieties are organized in neat rows in front of him, white blooming against blue against purple against pink. The smell is incredible, even though he himself tends to end up smelling like soil. And in the midst of it all is another flower - six feet tall, hair the colour of sand, wrapped in petals of denim and cotton. Somewhere in the back of his brain, he knows that there are other customers milling around, but everything kind of fuzzes over when Tachibana arrives.

Sousuke clears his throat and shakes his head a little. Now that he's admitted to himself that he has a crush, it's gotten really out of hand. Well, his poetry elective probably also has something to do with it. It's supposed to be an easy A, and he'll be damned if anything stands between him and his physiotherapy degree.

He gets back to twirling his pen and staring at the assignment in front of him. It's a slow afternoon so he feels fine with pulling out homework. The manager-approved tracklist they have playing through the speakers has Adam Levine singing Sugar, and soon he's tapping his foot in time with the percussion.

"Hi, Yamazaki," sings sugar.

He's startled, so lost in his assignment and the music, that when the sweet voice of Tachibana makes its way to him, he jumps in his seat, banging his knee against the countertop.

"Ah! I'm so sorry for scaring you!" his voice comes again, and even in distress it sounds like birdsong.

Sousuke makes an effort not to rub his knee, trying not to make Tachibana feel any worse. He looks up at Tachibana and makes an attempt to smooth everything over. "Don't worry about it-- I wasn't paying attention. You didn't scare me," he assures.

Clearly still flustered, Tachibana touches the back of his neck and looks past Sousuke out the window. "A-are you sure?"

Sousuke raises an eyebrow, bringing Tachibana back. "Very."

Tachibana tries to smile, and even though it's feeble, it's still heart-stoppingly cute. Sousuke has to look away. "These for you?" he asks, looking down at the counter where presumedly Tachibana has placed a triplet of pink carnations.

"A-ah, yes," Tachibana confirms, digging out his wallet from his back pocket.

Sousuke reaches beneath the counter for the paper wrapping and ribbon. With quick, sure hands he has the flowers tied at the stems and secured in paper. He exchanges the flowers for bills and coins. When he places the change in Tachibana's hand, his fingers brush a soft, unfamiliar palm, and he suddenly wants to press that palm to his own, wants to intertwine their fingers.

He jerks back. His own imagination is too strong for him today.

"Pablo Neruda, huh? Quite the romantic read."

Sousuke blinks up through a daze at Tachibana.

Tachibana nods at his book, oblivious. "You're reading love poems. For an assignment, or are you a romantic?"

He feels his face flame and chokes a little. "Assignment," he coughs out.

Something passes over Tachibana's face at that, and then he's smiling again, though there's an edge of something secretive in it. "Well, thanks, Yamazaki. I'll see you around!" he says cheerily, waving farewell.

Sousuke heaves a small sigh as the door swings shut. A quaint flower shop, flooded with colour and the smell of earth, with love songs constantly playing. Even love poems today, helpfully supplied by Professor Kyoani. You'd think it'd all be very conducive to romance. But not for Sousuke.

No, and the reason for that is pink, tied in ribbon, and sitting wrapped up in the arms of one Tachibana Makoto.

 _Who has your heart?_ Sousuke wonders.

\--------☼---------

He gets his answer one week later, and he cannot believe it.

"Makoto, let's just go back to your place already," whines the guy who walked in with Tachibana. He's wiry, boisterous, and-- Sousuke is loathe to admit-- in an excellent outfit. His well-clothed arm is thrown over Tachibana's shoulder even though he's shorter. His hair is casually messy and an absolutely ridiculous colour - pink. Like the carnations.

Tachibana remains completely unruffled. "It'll just be a minute," he says, combing through chrysanthemums.

Sousuke narrows his eyes at them both. All this time, Tachibana _was_ into guys. But this guy? Seriously? Sousuke feels his competitive side flare up. Even though he has no claim to Tachibana, he can't help but feel... _something_.

He has azaleas to pot, but Sousuke keeps watching them. Tachibana examines everything quietly, considering beauty and balance in a bloom while Pink Carnations bounces around from aisle to aisle, occasionally stopping to tug on Tachibana's sleeve or pout about leaving. Tachibana belies it all with patience-- and long-standing practise, probably. Sousuke closes his eyes and his imagination takes hold-- Tachibana and the guy holding hands, Tachibana and the guy kissing, Tachibana, Tachibana, Tachibana--

"Yamazaki, hello?"

Sousuke starts, nearly dropping the spade in his hands. "Tachibana, hi," he greets from his position on the floor. He has a perfect view of Tachibana's crotch, and it would have been awkward regardless, but in the wake of his daydream, it's even more awkward. He stands.

"Yamazaki Sousuke, Shigino Kisumi," Tachibana introduces, looking from one to the other.

Shigino bounds forward, offering a handshake. "Hi, Yamazaki! Wow, you're hot, aren't you?"

He blinks in stupefaction and slowly removes a workglove. "Uh, hi."

Tachibana is clearly blushing now, embarassed for his boyfriend. "Kisumi, you really shouldn't be so free with your compliments," he says quietly.

Shigino shrugs, the picture of mellowness. "It's true," he says, turning away. "Makoto, I'll be outside."

Sousuke watches Pink Carnations leave and loiter outside the front window of the shop.

"Sorry about Kisumi," Tachibana is apologizing now, a hand to the nape of his neck. His ears are still pink and it's almost unbearably cute. How is such a big person so cute?

Sousuke shakes his head. "Don't worry about it," he says. He points to the pair of chrysanthemums in Tachibana's hand - white and deep pink. "I'll ring you in?"

Tachibana's eyes dart up to Sousuke's face. "Yes, thanks," he murmurs.

After Tachibana has paid and the flowers are securely in his arms, he looks up at Sousuke. "No Pablo today?" he asks.

Sousuke's breathing stutters before he laughs. "No, that was due this past week," he says.

Tachibana laughs as well. "You got an A, I hope. Doing schoolwork on the job," he says, smiling. And is he teasing Sousuke?

Sousuke's lips curve into a rare smile. "I did get an A."

"An A in love poems," Tachibana says softly, still smiling, and it sounds strangely like an echo.

Something is in the room then, something slight but palpable, and it's in the air between them both. If this were any other time, any other place, he would lean forward and kiss those lips across from him. Hell, he might even do it now...

But a rapping on the window breaks him out of his reverie. And Pink Carnations presses his face against the glass, fogging it. He mouths something. Sousuke wants to reach through the glass and shake him silly.

"Uh, I should get going," Tachibana says, subdued. So he felt it too?

Sousuke's eyes trail Tachibana as he walks out and rejoins Pink Carnations on the other side of the glass. "Bye," he says, watching them walk down the sidewalk, that well-dressed arm looped over broad shoulders again. "Makoto."

\---------☼---------

Sousuke has a crush.

And he is miserable.

This is why he doesn't do crushes-- _didn't_ do crushes. Because they're frustrating and agonizing and they make him sappy and vulnerable. Whenever he's sitting in class and sees a piece of clothing that Tachibana might wear, his breath catches until he realizes that, of course, it's just a random guy. Whenever the timbre of a voice even slightly matches Tachibana's, his ears perk for it. Whenever he smells the chlorine of a pool, his heartbeat breaks out into doubletime. His whole body is betraying him and he doesn't like it one bit.

Why? Why now, and why not before, back when Tachibana first walked into the shop? Is it the handshake they shared? The little nervous smile Tachibana always seems to wear? The outline of strong back muscles beneath his shirt? The way he touches the nape of his neck? Is it the boyfriend? The casual sling of an arm around his shoulder? Sousuke must be sadistic, lusting after someone who's already taken. And happily taken, too, judging from the weekly flowers.

Sousuke grunts, hefting a bag of soil over his shoulder. He has to be careful-- his shoulder has been hurt before. But frustration does something to you, makes you careless. Recognizing this, he reprimands himself and puts the bag down before he does damage to his rotator cuff.

It's late morning on a Sunday, which means that Tachibana will come by any moment. But unlike all the weeks before, Sousuke isn't waiting. He'll stay in the back, hidden. Until he's got this crush back under control, he shouldn't see Tachibana. (Was there ever a time when he had the crush under control, honestly?)

He soaks in the sunshine and rolls his shoulders. He just needs to do something physical today. As long as he lifts everything carefully, it'll be a perfect vent for his feelings.

"Sousuke!"

Unless, of course, Gou calls. "What, Gou?"

"Customer for you," she says in a singsong.

His brows furrow. What does that even mean? No one calls on specific members of the staff at a florist. He takes off his workgloves and gives his shoulder one last turn before stepping over the threshold.

His eyes take a moment to adjust to the inside of the store, and when they do, Tachibana is standing in front of him, fingers clutching daisies. "Hi, Yamazaki," he greets with a little wave. Sousuke has to keep himself from thinking that it's cute.

"Hi, Tachibana," he says. Shifting to customer service mode, he asks, "What do you need?"

Tachibana seems to hesitate. "Uh, could you-- uh, ring me in?"

Hm. Gou could've taken care of that. His intuition flickers, but he steps toward the register anyway. Whatever Tachibana has to say, he'll say on his own time. "Yeah."

Tachibana is slow to pull out his wallet, his mind seemingly on something else. Sousuke just wraps the daisies, pulling the knot in the ribbon a tad too tight.

"Y-Yamazaki? Could I call you Sousuke?"

Sousuke looks up at Tachibana, a bit baffled. But he acquiesces, "Yeah, that's fine." He packages the flowers expertly and hands them to Tachibana. When Tachibana accepts them, his fingers land a little too close to Sousuke's own, and Sousuke has to pull away, quoting a price. Tachibana hands over a bill, and when the money changes hands, he finds again that Tachibana lingers. What's happening in this slot of time is in contrary to what he knows, and Sousuke isn't liking it, because if he's reading this right--

"Sousuke?"

He looks up, carefully clearing his face of emotion. "Yes?"

One of Tachibana's hands rises to the nape of his neck-- again, that nervous gesture. "Um, after your shift, would you-- that is if you don't have any plans-- would you grab a coffee with me?"

Sousuke's eyes narrow. This is exactly what he was hoping against. Not because he doesn't like Tachibana-- it's very clear to him now that he does like Tachibana, maybe even too much. But because-- "What about your boyfriend?"

Tachibana's mouth falls open a bit and his eyebrows lift clear into his hairline. He looks like a baby deer caught in the headlights. And it is with this expression that he says--

"I don't have a boyfriend."

Uh, what?

"What gave you that impression?" Tachibana asks now, hand still at the back of his neck, though he seems to be growing increasingly flustered.

Sousuke regains some composure. "Pink Carnations," he says, long having forgotten the name of the boyfriend.

Luckily, Tachibana picks up on his tone. "Oh, Kisumi? You thought Kisumi and I were..." he trails off, probably going through the encounter in his head. "I guess Kisumi has always been... touchy. We're friends though, not anything else."

Sousuke's worldview for the past week has been turned on its head. He supposes that makes sense. The guy told him he was hot within ten seconds of meeting him, after all. Then with a lot of confusion, he says, "But the flowers you buy every week?"

That small smile finds its way to Tachibana's face. "An offering," he says simply.

All the tension in his body leaves. "Oh."

They stand there in silence for a while. As always when he's with Tachibana, the rest of the world kind of fuzzes over, and Sousuke is free to reorganize things in his head. When he finally finds his voice, it's soft. "So... you don't have a boyfriend."

Tachibana shakes his head. "No."

"Or a girlfriend," he tries to joke.

It works. Tachibana's smile grows and he laughs. "No."

Sousuke nods, still a tad dumbfounded.

"So... do you want to get coffee?"

Sousuke looks up from the counter and into Tachibana's face. He looks sweet and eager and completely, totally perfect. Sousuke can sense a blush creeping up, feeling like a girl in a movie. He says his next words with absolute relish, "Yeah, sounds great."

\---------☼---------

It's the following weekend, the night of their first official date, and Sousuke is standing over a grave.

"So, this is where all your flowers have been going," he says, staring at the vase with wilted daisies. They're right outside Tachi--Makoto's place after a night of good food, good company and a scary movie. (He hadn't known what a scaredy cat this beautiful guy was, but damn if he didn't enjoy the way Makoto clutched at his arm the whole night.)

Makoto comes up behind him and looks for a little while, too. "Yep, this is who I'm buying the flowers for."

"Your dead goldfish," Sousuke says.

Makoto just nods. Then he puts his hands together and closes his eyes for a moment, so Sousuke does it too.

They both stand at the same moment and walk the few steps to the door.

Makoto turns to him. "Thanks for seeing me home. You really didn't have to."

Sousuke shrugs. "I wanted to."

Makoto smiles that heartbreaker's smile that he wears so well. Sousuke smiles back, buoyed by happiness and calm and total infatuation. This tall, well-dressed, scaredy cat poet who buys flowers for his dead fish-- who could've guessed that they'd be standing here together?

Makoto reaches into his pocket for his keys. "Well, thank you. So, goodni--"

Sousuke cuts Makoto off by pressing their mouths together. He places a hand right against the nape of Makoto's neck, that spot Makoto always touches that he's been wanting to feel for himself.

When they part, they rest their foreheads against each other.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time," he breathes. It's been true since the first time Makoto walked into the shop.

Makoto laughs, embarassed but happy.

Sousuke doesn't do crushes. He doesn't have a crush.

He smiles at Makoto across from him and pulls him forward for another kiss.

He has a boyfriend.


End file.
